Section—LEPORINA.

Family—LEPORIDÆ.

Lepus Magellanicus,Lesson et Garnot, Zoologie du Voyage autour du Monde de la Corvette, La Coquille.

“A black variety of the domesticated species, which was turned out on these islands by the earlier colonists, has been considered, but with some hesitation, by M. Lesson, as a distinct species. He has called itLepus Magellanicus, and has given the following specific character,—‘Pilis omnino atro-violaceis, albis passim sparsis: auriculis fuscis, capite brevioribus; maculâ albâ naso, interstitio narium, menti, gulæ, frontique.’[46]In the specimens preserved on board the Beagle, the form and position of the white marks neither agree with M. Lesson’s description, nor with each other. In one there is a broad white patch on one side of the head, and another on one of the hinder thighs. The Spaniards employed in hunting wild cattle, (who are all excellent practical observers) assured me, that the black rabbits were only varieties of the common gray kind, and they gave the following reasons for thinking so;—namely, that the two sorts did not live apart; that the black one had not a different range from the other; that the two bred freely together, and that they produced piebald offspring. As the rabbits extend their range very slowly, (not having yet crossed the central range,) the Spaniards have sometimes carried a few and turned them out in different parts of the island, and thus they have ascertained that the black and gray kinds breed together freely. Bougainville, moreover, who visited the part of the island, where the black variety is now most common, distinctly states, in his voyage round the world, that no animal, excepting the great wolf-like fox inhabited these islands. M. Lesson supposes that theLepus Magellanicusis found near the Strait of Magellan; but I inquired of the Indians, who live there, and they knew of no other ‘conejos’ or rabbits, except theKerodon Kingii, which no doubt is the animal alluded to by the early voyagers.”—D.

“This species seems to prefer rocky and slightly undulating ground, andhence is common in Banda Oriental and Entre Rios. Azara says it is found from 26° 30′, to at least 41° south; but, I was assured, perhaps incorrectly, that the Sierra Tapalguen (37° 30′), where the nature of the country becomes slightly different, is its southern limit. TheD. villosus,minutus, andmataco, are found at Bahia Blanca, in latitude 39°. I was also assured that these three species, together with theD. hybridus, frequent the plains near Mendoza, in latitude 33° to 34°.”—D.

“The northern limit of this species on the Atlantic side of the continent, is (as I was told by the inhabitants) near the southern one of theD. hybridus, namely, 37° 30′. It is extremely abundant on the arid plains near the Sierra Ventana, and likewise in the neighbourhood of the Rio Negro. This species has a range considerably further southward than any other: I obtained specimens at Port Desire, where, however, it is far from common, and at Santa Cruz (in latitude 50°) I saw its tesselated covering lying on the ground. At Bahia Blanca, I found in the stomach of this armadillo, coleoptera, larvæ, roots of plants, and even a small snake of the genus Amphisbæna. All the species, excepting one, wander about by day. At Bahia Blanca, during a morning’s ride, three or four of theD. minutusgenerally were met with; but, in order to secure them, it was necessary to jump off one’s horse as quickly as possible, otherwise, they would have disappeared by burrowing in the sandy soil. This species often endeavours to escape detection by squatting close to the ground, and remaining motionless.”—D.

“This species is said to inhabit burrows: it is nocturnal, and is very destructive to poultry. The body after death possesses a very offensive odour. My specimen was procured at Maldonado.”—D.

2.Didelphis crassicaudata.Plate XXX.

Didelphis crassicaudata,Desmarest, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. 2d Ed. ix. p. 425.

—— —— Mammalogie, p. 257, Species 393.

Microuré troisième, ou Macrouré à grosse queue,Azara, Essais sur l’Histoire Nat. des Quad. de la Province de Paraguay, vol. i. p. 284.

D. capite brevi; auribus parvis; colore corporis fuscescenti-flavo subtùs pallidiore; infra oculos flavescente; caudâ crassâ, caput corpusque, quoad longitudinem, ferè æquante; ad basin corporis colore tinctâ, dein nigra, ad apicem albâ.

Description.—Head short; ears small, the posterior edge emarginated near the base, distinctly furnished with hairs; tail slightly exceeding the body in length, very thick at the base; tarsi small; fur moderately long, slightly harsh, and somewhat adpressed (much less woolly than in most Opossums): general tint brownish yellow, under parts paler; anterior angle of the eye and muzzle brown, the tip of the chin, and also the tip of the muzzle on either side whitish; on the cheeks, a little below the eyes, is a patch of yellow which extends round the angle of the mouth: about one-third of the tail is covered with fur of the same colour and character as that on the body; beyond this the tail is black, excepting a small portion, about one inch in length, at the apex, which is white; and the hairs are short, closely adpressed, and scarcely hide the scales which are beneath: the fore portion of each foot is brown: the hairs covering the ears on the outer side are brownish, and those on the inner side of the ear are yellow, but towards the outer margin they are brown. The hairs of the back have the basal half gray, and the apical half ochreous, terminating in yellowish brown; on the belly and underside of neck, the hairs are ochreous, faintly tinted with gray at the base.

Habitat, Maldonado, La Plata, (June).

The species described by Azara, under the nameMacrouré à grosse queue, agrees so perfectly with the present animal, that I have no hesitation in referringit to theDidelphis crassicaudataof Desmarest, which is founded upon Azara’s description.

The head of theDidelphis crassicaudatais shorter and less pointed than in most other Opossums; the ears are unusually small, and the tail is very thick. In the character of the fur also, this species differs from most others, the hairs being rather short and somewhat adpressed; and the soft under fur being very scanty. Upon separating the fur on the back and sides of the body, numerous young hairs were visible in the specimen from which the above description is taken, and these were of a bright rusty red tint; the colouring of the animal therefore would, in all probability, have been very different after a short time, had it not been killed. Those observed by Azara varied considerably in their colouring. The skull is figured in Plate 34. figs. 25. Fig.drepresents aramusof the lower jaw.

“This specimen was caught at Maldonado: it weighed 14½ oz.”—D.

D. vellere longo et molli, corpore suprà cinereo-fuscescente lavalo; pedibus corporeque subtùs albis, oculis nigra circumdatis, interspatio cinerescente; auribus magnis fuscescentibus; caudá, capite et corpore, paulo breviore.

Description.—Muzzle slender and pointed; ears large; tail rather shorter than the head and body taken together; fur long and very soft: general tint of the upper parts of the head and body ashy gray washed with brown; on the sides of the body, especially near the shoulders, a faint yellowish tint is observable; the lower part of the cheeks, the throat, under parts of the body and the feet, are white, with an indistinct yellowish tint; the eyes are encircled with brownish black, which tint is extended forwards on to the sides of the muzzle; the upper surface of the muzzle and the inter-orbital space ispale. The tail is furnished throughout with minute decumbent hairs, excepting a small naked space at the tip beneath, of about one line in length; on the upper surface they are brown, and on the under, they are whitish. The fur of the upper and under parts of the body is deep gray at the base; on the lower part of the cheeks, chin, and on the mesial line of the throat and chest, the hairs are uniform—not gray at the base. The ears are brown, and to the naked eye, appear naked.

Habitat, Valparaiso, Chile, (October.)

This little Opossum, which is the only species I am acquainted with from the west side of the Cordillera, was exhibited at one of the scientific meetings of the Zoological Society, and its characters were pointed out by Mr. James Reid, who proposed for it the specific name ofhortensis,[47]a name which was given from the circumstance that in Mr. Darwin’s notes it is stated that a small Opossum was found in a garden at Maldonado. These notes however refer to theDidelphis brachyura. The skull of this animal is figured in Plate 35. Fig. 5,a, represents the upper side; 5,b, the under side; and 5,c, is the side view. Fig. 5,d, is the lower jaw, and 5,e, is the same magnified. The length of the skull is 14½ lines; width, 8 lines; length of palate, 7¼ lines; inter-orbital space, 2½ lines; length oframusof lower jaw, 10½ lines. In the palate are two long openings which commence opposite the posterior false molar, and terminate opposite the hinder portion of the penultimate true molar: the incisive foramina are nearly one line in length. On the posterior portion of the palate there are four other foramina, one on each side near the posterior molar, and one on either side the mesial line, behind the large palatine openings above mentioned.

“These little animals frequent the thickets growing on the rocky hills, near Valparaiso. They are exceedingly numerous, and are easily caught in traps baited either with cheese or meat. The tail appeared to be scarcely at all used as a prehensile organ; they are able to run up trees, with some degree of facility. I could distinguish in their stomachs the larvæ of beetles.”—D.

4.Didelphis brachyura.Plate XXII.

Didelphis brachyura,Auct.

D. vellere brevi, corporis suprà cinereo, flavo lavato; lateribus capitis, corporisque, et partibus inferioribus rufescenti-flavis, gulâ et abdomine pallidioribus; caudâ brevi.

Description.—Head large; canine teeth very large; ears rather small; tail short; rather more than half the length of the body; fur short and crisp; the back and upper surface of the head ashy gray, grizzled with yellowish white; the sides of the head and body, and under parts rusty yellow, rather paler on the belly than on other parts, and of a deeper hue on the rump and cheeks; the eye is encircled with rusty yellow; feet yellowish; tail clothed with short stiff hairs, and exhibiting scales, brownish above, and dirty yellowish white beneath—a small naked space beneath, at the tip, of about two lines in length. Fur of the back grayish at the base, that on the belly uniform; ears clothed with minute yellowish white hairs.

Habitat, Maldonado, La Plata, (June.)

Never having seen a good figure of this animal, I have thought it desirable to introduce it in the plates of this work.

TheDidelphis brachyurais closely allied to theD. tricolorof authors, but in that species the upper parts of the body are nearly black; the sides of the head and body are of a deep rusty red tint, and the under parts are almost white.

“Was caught by some boys digging in a garden. Its intestines were full of the remains of insects, chiefly ants and others of the Hemipterous order.”—D.

Mammalia Pl. 1.Desmodus D’Orbignyi.

Mammalia Pl. 2.Phyllostoma Grayi.

Mammalia. Pl. 3.Vespertilio Chiloensis.

Mammalia Pl. 4.Canis antarcticus.

Mammalia. Pl. 5.Canis Magellanicus.

Mammalia Pl. 6.Canis fulvipes.

Mammalia Pl. 7.Canis Azaræ.

Mammalia Pl. 8.Felis Yagouaroundi.

Mammalia Pl. 9.Felis Pajeros.

Mammalia Pl. 10.Delphinus Fitz-Royi.

Mammalia Pl. 11.Mus longicaudatus.Mus gracilipes.

Mammalia Pl. 12.Mus bimaculatus.Mus elegans.

Mammalia Pl. 13.Mus flavescens.Mus arenicola.

Mammalia Pl. 14.Mus brachiotis.Mus Magellanicus.

Mammalia Pl. 15.1 Mus Renggeri.2 —— obscurus.

Mammalia. Pl. 16.Mus longipilis.

Mammalia Pl. 17.Fig. 1 Mus xanthorhinus.2 Mus nasutus.

Mammalia Pl. 18.Mus tumidus.

Mammalia. Pl. 19.Mus Braziliensis.

Mammalia Pl. 20.Mus micropus.

Mammalia Pl. 21.Mus griseo-flavus.

Mammalia Pl. 22.Mus xanthopygus.

Mammalia Pl. 23.Mus Darwinii.

Mammalia Pl. 24.Mus Galapagoensis.

Mammalia Pl. 25.Mus fuscipes.

Mammalia Pl. 26.Reithrodon Cuniculcides.

Mammalia Pl. 27.Reithrodon Chinchilloides.

Mammalia Pl. 28.Abrocoma Bennettii.

Mammalia Pl. 29.Abrocoma Cuvieri.

Mammalia Pl. 30.Didelphis crassicaudata.

Mammalia Pl. 31.Didelphis elegans.

Mammalia Pl. 32.Didelphis brachyura.

Mammalia Plate 33.G.R. Waterhouse. & C.M. Curtis

Mammalia Plate 34.G.R. WaterhouseJ. Swaine

Mammalia Pl. 35.Drawn by C. H. Curtis.

1. The palatine foramina are accidentally omitted—see description.

2. Voy. Amer. Merid. t. 8.

3. See his memoir “Sur quelques anomalies du système dentaire dans les mammifères,” published in the “Annales Françaises et Etrangères d’Anatomie et de Physiologie,” No. 6, pl. IX. fig. 2.

4. Magazine of Zoology and Botany, No. 12.

5. “Annales des Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle,” tom. xv. p. 176.

6. Journal Historique d’un Voyage fait aux Iles Malouines, tom. ii. p. 459.

7. Azara has not described this animal, which circumstance alone would render it probable that it is not an inhabitant of Paraguay or La Plata. The two Foxes mentioned by him are the Aguará-guaza, (Canis jubatus, Auct.) a very large kind of fox (a strangely exaggerated description of this animal is given by Falkner) of which I could not obtain a specimen; and the Aguará-chay, orCanis Azaræ.

8. Molina, Compendio de la Historia del Reyno de Chile, vol. i. p. 330 and 332.

9. I am indebted to Mr. Ogilby, who visited the Prince’s collection, for a description from the specimens ofC. Azarætherein preserved. In this description the tip of the tail is said to be black.

10. Considering the great difference of climate and other conditions between the hot and wooded country of Paraguay, and the desolate plains of Patagonia, one is led to suspect that theCanis Azaræof La Plata and Patagonia, which wanders about by day, and inhabits burrows instead of heaps of straw, may turn out to be a different species from the Agouará-chay of Azara, which is nocturnal in its habits, and lives in thick coverts.

11. In measuring the species of Mammalia, I almost invariably, when wishing to give the length, measure from the tip of the nosealong the curve of the backto the root of the tail. In the Ruminantia of course this plan is not desirable, but in other Mammals I have found it most convenient. If we take a Cat, for instance, and curve the body in whatever way we please, we find the length (taken in the way just mentioned) always the same. Whereas, if we take a straight line (as many naturalists do) the length will vary according to the position of the animal.

12. I must refer the reader to my journal for some account of the habits of the jaguar and puma, which being well known animals, and the facts that I mention having little scientific interest, I have not thought it worth while to repeat them here.

13. D’Orbigny says, (vol. ii. p. 69,) that all the species of the genus have this habit.

14. Figures 47 and 48 of M. Cuvier’s work represent horns so unlike either of those brought over by Mr. Darwin, that I cannot help suspecting they belong to some other species of stag.

15. The MS. name ofM. decumanoïdes, which I had applied to this animal, has been changed, in consequence of my having seen a different species, with the same name attached, in the museum of the India House.

16. The great Bandicoot rat of India, (Mus giganteus, of Hardwicke,) ought, perhaps, to be added to the species above enumerated; and I strongly suspect several catalogued species will prove but varieties of this animal.

17. See Proceedings of the Zoological Society for February 14th, 1837, p. 19.

18. As I shall have occasion to use the termsmoderate,long,short,large, &c. it may be well to state that I take the common mouse, (Mus Musculus,) as my standard of comparison. The ears, feet, tail, length of the fur, general proportions, &c. are in that animal what I term moderate.

19. A long tarsus is generally accompanied by a proportionately long tail. I presume that those Mice which have long tarsi are in the habit of making great leaps, and that in these leaps, the tail serves to steady and balance the body.

20. InMus leucopusof North America the tarsus is hairy beneath, and in the character of the teeth this animal also agrees with the species above mentioned.

21. The dimensions given in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society were taken from a younger specimen than those here described, and there is an error in the length of the tail there given, which should be 1–10 instead of 2—10.

22. InMus longipilisandM. brachiotismay be perceived an approach to this elongated form of the muzzle.

23. I am sorry to say the artist has not drawn this skull with his usual fidelity, a circumstance which I did not perceive until it was too late to make any alteration: it is too large, and the incisors are represented as projecting forwards too much; they are in the original so nearly at right angles with the upper surface of the skull that but a very small portion of them is seen, when it is viewed, as represented at fig. 3,a.

24. It is not easy to measure thewidthof the ears in these animals: upon measuring with a thread over the curve of the outer side I have found the width of the ears of the present animal to be as above given,—the dimension slightly exceeding that stated in the Proceedings of the Zool. Soc.

25.Ρειθρος, a channel;Οδον, a tooth.

26. The tail is imperfect.

27. They are naked, but I suspect the hair has been rubbed off.

28. I am acquainted with seven North American Species ofMuridæ, all of which possess the dentition ofHesperomys.

29.Ἐσπερος, West, andΜυς.

30. I am acquainted with only one exception, and that is in the genusCastor. In the genusOndatra, the descending ramus is but slightly twisted outwards, but in all the otherArvicolidæ, whose crania I have examined, it is remarkably so, and in the generaSpalaxandGeomys, where this character is carried to the extreme, the descending ramus projects from the alveolus of the long inferior incisors, in the form of a rounded and almost horizontal plate.

31. In aged individuals of some of the species ofArvicolidæ, the molar teeth possess short roots. In a skull ofOndatranow before me I find all the molars divided at the base into two portions, which in all probability would have formed solid roots had the animal lived longer.

32. See Proceedings of the Zoological Society for April 9th, 1839, p. 61.

33. Azara’s Voyages dans l’Amerique Meridionale, vol. i. p. 324.

34. Transactions of the Zoological Society, vol. ii. p. 84.

35. Azara Voyage dans l’Amerique Meridionale, vol. i. p. 324.

36. Compendio de la Hist. Nat. del Reyno de Chile, vol. i. p. 343.

37.Ἁβρος, soft;Κομη, hair.

38. There is a wide difference between the present animals and theArvicolidæin the form of the occipital condyles: the same difference is also observable betweenEchimysandMus. TheOctodontidæin fact have the same form of condyles as the Chinchillas and Cavies. In this and many other characters the last mentioned animals evince an affinity to theLeporidæ.

39. I have not had an opportunity of examining the skull ofAbrocoma Bennettii.

40. This nail no doubt is used to cleanse the fur, and the bristly hairs may also assist in the operation; the two small toes of the Kangaroo’s hind foot are used for the same purpose.

41. The skull is, unfortunately, imperfect, the hinder portion is injured, and the arches which enclosed the ant-orbital openings are broken.

42. Azara ‘Voyages dans l’Amerique Meridionale,’ vol. i. p. 316.

43. See Proceedings of the Zoological Society for April, 1839, p. 61.

44. Azara, Voyage dans l’Amérique Méridionale, vol. i. p. 318.

45. Azara, Quadrupeds of Paraguay.

46. Voyage de La Coquille. Partie Zoologique, vol. i. p. 168.

47. See Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for January, 1837, p. 4.; its characters were not published.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTESSilently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling.Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

Back to Index Next